


Infested

by Nivilack



Category: Goblin Slayer (Anime), The Forest (Video Game)
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:53:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29794968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nivilack/pseuds/Nivilack
Summary: Eric Leblanc had finally gone completely insane. Goblins and magic? Yes, he was certainly insane, but at least goblin bones made good furniture.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Eric Leblanc slammed the door to his cabin shut, wiping fresh red blood off of his face as he did so. He walked over to the end of the cabin, where a chair made of human bone sat. Eric heaved a sigh as he collapsed on the bone throne, arms slumping over the femur armrests. His backpack bulged against the back of the seat, grinding against the assembled bones as he shifted his weight. Eric wondered if he would notice that he’d gone insane. These days he wasn’t sure that he would even care. As he pondered his possible insanity, he looked to the several skull lanterns hanging down from his ceiling, casting a warm glow over his home. Small flames burned in the hollow sockets as the skulls of his defeated foes glared down at him.  
  
Eric snarled as they stared at him, and he looked away from their penetrating gaze. They shouldn’t have tried him. Didn’t they learn? He tried to teach them, but these damned natives never learned. Linda sat in a chair in the corner, stationary as always, with Timmy standing next to her. Eric mimicked their tones as he began speaking to himself.  
  
“Daddy you said you’d show me how to make a bamboo spear!” Timmy whined, his drawn-on face a deep frown.  
  
“Now sweety...” His wife said softly, not moving an inch as she spoke “Your father’s been busy with his show, he’s tired, he’ll show you tomorrow alright? Just take it easy.”  
  
Eric smiled to himself, standing up from the bone throne as he approached his family. Their unmoving forms were engulfed in his arms as he squeezed them against his chest. The twigs snapped under the pressure, and Timmy and Linda fell apart, falling through his arms and clattering against the wooden floor. Eric stared down dumbfounded at what had just occurred, the bodies of his family lying prone and broken before him.  
  
Eric then fell to all fours and wept, salty tears carving a trail through the drying blood on his face. They weren’t real… He needed to accept that they were gone, but by God it was too hard! What had he done to deserve this fate!? He suddenly growled like a beast as he stood from the ground, bringing his modern axe to bear, the dark carbon steel blade shimmering in the candlelight from above. He looked up at the skulls, which still glared down at him. His former foes seemed to be sneering down in disapproval at Eric's weakness.  
  
Eric bared his teeth “Don’t look at me!”  
  
He swung his axe, cleaving through the skulls with a spray of white powder and flame. Fire licked the walls and floor of his cabin, but those did not catch fire immediately. What did, however, was the bed of fur he had been sleeping on for the past few months. The flame spread quickly, the fine hairs burning away quickly as the hide too was engulfed. Eric cursed and tried to stamp out the flames with several stomps, but still the flame grew.  
  
Giving up, he grabbed up an unburning piece of the fur mattress, and quickly threw it outside after kicking open his door. The fur landed with a poof, loose soil clouding around its impact site. The firelight illuminated the tall wooden palisade gate He turned around to see other pieces of flaming wax on his floor, and he went to work stamping them out. This effort proved to be in vain, for while he was able to stomp out many of the spilled candles, he could not get them all. As soon as a log caught flame, that was it. He had no water to douse the fire, not that his water skin would have held enough for the job anyway.  
  
He sat with his back against the palisade gate as he watched his cabin burn. Days worth of work and effort, just gone. He then heard a high-pitched scream somewhere beyond his defensive walls, and his head slumped as more screams answered it, all surrounding his fortress and closing in. He took off his backpack, setting it between his legs as he rummaged through their contents until finally, he found what he was looking for.  
  
The cool black metal of the ovoid shape reflected the firelight. The black segmented metal that contained the whirring red stone resembled a rib cage. It was no bigger than his hand, and he cursed at seeing the red hue. Eric had thought that he’d switched the thing back to blue after he was done taking out his frustrations on the natives, but he must have lost himself in the killing again. He pressed the small round button near one end of the device twice, and soon, the angry red color turned to a calming blue hue.  
  
Soon the approaching screams ceased and he heard bare feet skitter back into the depths of the accursed forest. Eric stared into the calm blue light but did not feel anything other than frustration. Whatever this device was, it held no effect on him. Why were those cannibals affected in such a way? He shook his head. He didn’t really care. Eric hadn’t cared about anything since the day he let his son stay dead.  
  
Well…  
  
That wasn’t completely true. There was still one thing that drew something out of him, something that took away the pain for at least a little bit.  
  
He loved killing these savages. Eric hated them with every ounce of his being. Yet despite months of what he defined as ‘self-defensive genocide’ there always seemed to be more. Where was it they came from? They didn’t live in the caves, he’d only run into mutants and the blue men down there. He hadn’t seen a single ‘normal’ cannibal within the cave's wretched depths. He had seen their villages of course, his horrifying first days on this peninsula had him frantically combing the land for the whereabouts of his son, bringing him into contact with those small communities.  
  
After it was clear that Timmy wasn’t on the surface, Eric had descended into those horrid caverns with nothing but a crash axe. Exploring those caves had been the most terrifying experience he’d ever had in his life. They did eventually lead him to Timmy, but Eric had been too late to save his son from that bastard Cross. Thinking of the red-painted scientist caused Eric to tighten his grip on the artifact in his hands, the cool metal pressing deeply into his flesh.  
  
Then there was Megan… that poor little girl didn’t deserve her fate any more than he did. When he first came upon her, blooded from murdering her father, Eric had hesitated to scoop her up and bring Timmy back. For, while she was covered in blood, skin a bluish hue, and eyes distant with clear insanity, she had still been a little girl.  
  
Then, Megan had mutated into the most horrid creature he faced on the peninsula. Somehow, like with the other horrors he’d faced, Eric had killed her. He hadn’t felt guilt for the act, it was him or her, and he was actually relieved that this had been the outcome. If Megan hadn’t mutated, Eric didn’t think he would have been able to drag her to the Obelisk. Simply imagining the child screaming and crying as he brought her to what would have been her second death would have stopped his hand for sure.  
  
That proved to not matter, as when she was dead, the Obelisk would not accept the corpse. Eric remembered the taste of maddening despair he had felt knowing that he'd need a living child to revive Timmy. When the artifact spat the poor girl out onto the ground with a bloody plop, a golden keycard fell out from somewhere on her person. Eric had taken the keycard, remembering the locked elevator at the end of the cyclopean room he killed Megan in. Not giving up hope, Eric had ridden the elevator to the top. He remembered the spectacular view that he mostly ignored as he marched into the final room in the Sahara labs. It was narrow, with smooth metal pentagons curving up either side of the wall toward the ceiling. When Eric had passed through the threshold, he had been immediately drawn to the loud droning buzz from over his head.  
  
A perfect copy of the device he held in his hand now sat above him, yet this one had been as big as a storage container. Not knowing the device's purpose, he approached the terminal at the end of the strange chamber, noting the laptop that sat upon an upturned plastic garbage can in the corner. The glowing characters had read ‘emergency shut off’ and several cables seemed to lead up to the device in the ceiling. Turning his attention back to the main terminal, Eric saw much to his surprise, the diagram of a plane.  
  
Three dots surrounded portions of the diagram and three names arraigned themselves on either side of the screen. Thomas, Kevin, and Sally. All three were children apparently, for under the kid's names had been ‘Age’ followed by the corresponding number. There were three children on the plane. Three potential sacrifices to bring his son back from death. Not quite aware of what he was doing, he had raised his hand to the large orange ‘ACTIVATE?’ on the screen. Would it bring down the plane much as his had been?  
  
He had paused just before pushing that button that would give him the keys to Timmy’s revival, reminded of how he had painted his own skin red in the caverns before now. He had done it to ward off any more potential threats by cannibals, but he felt an eery sense of connection with Cross. He too must have sat before this desk-bound computer, painted red to scare off the natives before pushing that button, the button that ruined Eric’s life. The symbolism was not lost on him despite his sanity having been worn to almost nothing.  
  
Eric had stared at his painted hand, breathing heavily as he backed away from the terminal, looking instead to the emergency shut-off laptop in the corner. He agonized for a full minute on what he should do, torn between saving his son or sending a new group of people to their deaths. He wanted his son back so very badly… but remembering that he wouldn’t have brought a live Megan Cross to the obelisk helped his decision to shut off the device for good.  
  
There was also the matter of Megan’s fate…  
  
Dr. Cross had brought her back from the dead, yes, but at a horrible cost. Megan had come back twisted and violent and eventually had mutated. He knew from the videos he had found scattered across the peninsula that eventually, these poor kids became the very monsters that he had been fighting since the crash. Would he really do that to Timmy? His right hand shook as he took another step back from the monitor.  
  
What would Linda say?  
  
Tears streamed down his cheeks when he made his decision. When he left through yet another cavern system, he burned the photo of Timmy he had carried with him, the ashes flowing away in the wind. After a few days of mourning, Eric had revisited the yacht, which in turn led him back to that same cave entrance to attain this smaller artifact he now held in his grasp. He hated the thing. Hated whoever or whatever had made it.  
  
Every artifact was deserving of hatred, for their creators had to have been of evil nature. Eric stood suddenly, possessed by a wave of intense anger that made his head spin. He began pushing the button rapidly, squeezing the disgusting thing with all his strength as it shifted hues from blue to red to black rapidly. He finally screamed and threw it hard against the ground. It bounced once and rolled a small distance before coming to a stop… then, oddly, the device began to glow a shade of deep violet. Eric frowned.  
  
That was new.  
  
He approached the artifact, his rage not entirely quelled. Before he could kick it into the roaring flame of his cabin, it quickly floated upward, a high-pitched whine emanating from it. The sound was so aggravating that Eric found himself clutching his ears to shut out the horrid noise. He backed away as the sound intensified, his hands offering no protection for his eardrums.  
  
Then everything went white.  
  
The high pitch noise ceased, and Eric rubbed at his eyes. Had the thing flash banged him somehow? Why was everything suddenly cold? Soon the white began to fade, and Eric opened his eyes to find that he was in pitch darkness. Completely engulfed, his breathing quickened, and panic threatened to overtake him.  
  
He looked for the flaming wreck of his cabin, but either the fire had been put out or he had been made blind. He looked up at the sky, trying to see the pinpricks of stars. Nothing, just solid black. Eric fumbled for his lighter in his pocket, lighting the small flame. Much to his relief and then subsequent horror, the light illuminated his surroundings. This, of course, meant that he was in fact not blind. The problem, however, was where he was.  
  
He was inside a cave. Eric paused before moving forward, only able to see a few feet around him from the light cast by his diminutive torch. He listened for any movement, any noise whatsoever, and thankfully, he heard nothing. He rummaged through his bag until he found his flashlight, stowing away his lighter. Turning on the hefty tool, he pointed it straight forward, slowly turning in a circle as he examined the cave walls.  
  
He was in a large stone chamber of rough stone, a sheen of moisture reflecting his light off the cool rock. Eric saw that he was standing atop a smooth stone altar that was wide enough for him to lay atop with a few inches to spare. Other than the altar he stood upon, there was only one other man-made (If you could even call it that) construct within the chamber. Familiar double doors of dark ribbed metal stretched from the floor of the cave to halfway to the ceiling, completely sealed shut.  
  
Had he accidentally activated a function of the artifact he wasn’t aware of? Did it teleport him to a cave? If so, was this a cave that he’d been in before? He’d explored those depths very thoroughly, there were no other sealed ancient doors he hadn’t found yet. Speaking of the device…  
  
He scanned the floor and altar around him with sweeps of his flashlight but found no trace of the ovoid thing anywhere. The ground here was actually very clear of rubble and other debris, so the artifact would have stuck out like a sore thumb. He stepped off of the altar, taking deep calming breaths as he approached the giant metal doors. There, he saw a black triangular table sticking up from the ground nearby.  
  
Eric knew that he would need to put some weight on the mechanism to open the door, thankfully, he always carried a few big rocks and skulls in his bag. Eric unzipped his pack and placed five rocks one after the other onto the table. It sank in with a grinding noise until the mechanism was flush, and the doors responded in kind, scraping against the rough stone as they slowly opened.  
  
A maw of deep blackness lay beyond those cyclopean doors, endless and all-encompassing, hiding unknown dangers. Eric brought his modern axe to bear, the carbon steel edge ready for hacking. He took a deep calming breath, and stepped into the darkness, lighting his way.  
  
 **I felt particularly inspired to write this, what do you all think?**


	2. Unknown Depths

As Eric wandered his way through the cave, passing through narrow crevices and climbing over rocks, he noticed something.  
  
There weren't any mutants down here.  
  
That had been the same kind of gateway he had seen scattered around the caverns in the peninsula, so where were the freaks? He was angry and needed something to smash his axe into. Eric had long abandoned his fear of these depths, replacing it instead with pure hatred. He did, however, respect the caves. If he was careless, a mutant could pounce on him from the encroaching dark, and that would be it.  
  
He explored for hours, finding nothing but rough untampered rock as he went. There were several times where he had to crawl on his belly to continue, dirtying his red-black flannel shirt and blue jeans as he passed over the fine layers of dirt. Thankfully, most of his exploration took him through high roofed corridors, so there wasn't too much army crawling to be done. The problem, however, was the fact that these corridors seemed to twist in on themselves, and often Eric would find himself back near where he started. Despite this frustrating trend, He didn't give up, continuing his search.  
  
The batteries were starting to die when he finally heard something skittering across the stone behind him. Eric quickly turned, a wide opened mouth smile on his face as he readied his axe to swing into the nearest freak skull. Much to his disappointment, however, Eric saw nothing in the cave behind him as he swept his light back and forth. His imagination?  
  
Not a chance.  
  
He moved to where he heard the sound, readying his axe to block a surprise attack. He re-entered a large open space he had passed through earlier. Eric could have sworn that he had checked every corner, and indeed, as he swept his flashlight through the space he saw no hiding places for-  
  
"Nyeahga!" A high pitch gurgling voice shouted from above.  
  
Eric swung his axe over his head in response, the sharp steel blade biting into flesh and sending something small flying away. He quickly scanned the relatively low hanging roof of the cave, seeing a small outcropping right above his head. Eric couldn't tell from down here, but it seemed like it went somewhere. Eric then turned his attention to the unmoving form on the ground before him.  
  
A mutant to be sure, short and skinny, with dark green warty skin. He couldn't see it's face well, despite the fact it landed face up. Eric jogged up to the body and smashed his axe into the chest of the thing, splitting the bone and causing the thing to cry out in agony. That was when he saw its face. A long nose stuck far out of a hideous face, yellow goat eyes staring at him with what appeared to be fear. The creature was bald, and wore nothing more than a tattered loincloth. Eric's first blow just the moment before seemed to have cleaved halfway through the things shoulder, it's gangly arm hanging by a few threads of sinew and spewing blood.  
  
It died with a wheeze, dark red blood exploding out of its mouth. Eric yanked out the axe with another spray of crimson, and scanned around with his flashlight again. Nothing seemed to be nearby, but mutants could be clever, this one had almost gotten the drop on him. His light reflected back at him off of a glimmering sliver of metal, and Eric moved to investigate.  
  
Much to his surprise and joy, it was a knife. The thing was as long as a buck knife but both sides were sharp, and the steel gleamed in the light. It was covered in grime and the leather bound hilt needed replacing, but this was a real knife! Out of all the things he found on the peninsula, he hadn't found one of the best and most versatile tools for survival in those caves…  
  
There was the machete of course, but having this smaller blade meant that more delicate work could be done far easier.  
  
It was beautiful. Sharpening those sticks was going to go by a whole lot faster now… and making tinder… and- the point was, the knife was a welcome sight, and he was taking it for sure. He picked it up, and wrapped the sharp-edged of the blade with cloth in his bag. Tying an overhand knot over his makeshift sheath, he found a place for it among his other treasures. This must have been what this creature had been trying to kill him with. He looked down to the green mutant and sneered. It had to be one of the ugliest ones he'd seen, along with the weakest. It looked like… a goblin.  
  
Yeah, that's what he would call these things. They were goblins. He crushed its skull with one stomp to make triple sure it was dead and moved to the outcropping. His flashlight began flickering, and he sighed as he replaced the batteries. He needed to find more of them soon, he was starting to run out. Eric observed the distance between him and the jutting ledge, noting that if he were to jump, he could likely grab a hold of it's edge.  
  
He put away his axe, and gripped the flashlight in his teeth. He jumped, fingers finding purchase on a groove in the stone. Heaving himself up with a grunt, he made his way onto the outcropping. He pointed the flashlight down the stone corridor, seeing that it had a steady incline upward. It was only narrow enough for one person to move through comfortably, and the low hanging ceiling meant that he would have to duck a little ways as he moved through. This way could likely lead to the exit. Taking up the axe once more, he ventured forth, ready to hack.  
  
As he continued up the steady incline, the roof heightened so he didn't have to keep ducking his head. It remained just as narrow though and stayed that way until eventually, the incline leveled out, and he entered a large chamber. The smell that struck him was repugnant, like feces and rotting flesh mixing in a charnel of pig guts. Before the crash, such a scent would have stunned him, but the caves of the peninsula had stenches just as horrid if not worse than this.  
  
What was different however, were the bodies. Naked and bruised women lay all about, some crying and shifting on the hard stone and others not even moving. Eric paused as he swept his light over the women. Were these tribals? Why were they just laying around? Best just to kill them to be safe, he didn't want them getting the drop on him when his back was turned. He was long since done being merciful.  
  
As he approached one dark-haired sobbing form, it turned it's head to look at him, green eyes wide with fright. That gave him pause, and instead of bringing the axe down upon her skull, he spoke.  
  
"Who are you?" He said, voice gruff.  
  
"Help me please!" She screamed, turning toward him fully.  
  
He backed away and gasped when he saw her bloated belly. The malformed roundness almost seemed like that of pregnancy, but enlargened to a horrific degree. She screamed as she crawled toward him, tears streaming down the sides of her face as her stomach began undulating. Pushing hands pressed against flesh, and soon fingers began to pierce through. Blood gushed from multiple clawed fingers that sought escape from their mother's belly.  
  
Eric swung his axe at the woman's head, and in the second before impact, he could see her agonized face take on a grateful cast. Perhaps that was what she had wanted, but he swung out of instinct, not a desire to end her suffering. Still he felt bad for the poor woman. When the axe connected, it killed her instantly, knocking her flat on her back. Her stomach then began tearing open, and little ugly green creatures began crawling out of the tears they made. They fell to the cave floor mewling and rolling around in afterbirth, and Eric sneered in disgust. They looked just like the creature he had killed down below… if these things grew up to be like that then…  
  
He stomped every single one to death. The only good mutant was a dead one. It was after crushing the final mutant baby skull that he heard light feet and skittering claws on stone coming from his right. Eric turned his flashlight in that direction to see several goblins at the mouth of another corridor. Eric roared at them, a bestial scream that echoed through the cave.  
  
He couldn't count how many of them there were, but he knew there was a whole lot of them. They seemed surprised that he was there, maybe they didn't know about the gate down further below? Those parts of the cave seemed completely unoccupied. Eric growled at the creatures in challenge, and much to his delight, they came to meet it.  
  
He estimated there were at least ten beginning to surround him, and he bounced from foot to foot as they approached, some climbing over the naked women as they went. They tried to contain Eric within a circle, but he wouldn't give them time to form up. He dashed forward, bringing down his axe upon the first goblin's skull, splitting it in half. The gooey brains spilled out onto the cave floor as he wrenched his axe free, backpedaling out of reach once more.  
  
Eric moved sporadically as he tried to confuse the green mutants. They were all dressed the same way as the goblin he'd killed below, save for one. Near the back, a goblin stood hunched over, clutching a staff with a human skull affixed to its top. A smooth wooden mask concealed its hideous face, with two narrow slits for vision. It also wore a ragged brown cloak that concealed its body from view, with a hood over its head.  
  
It seemed to be giving orders to the other goblins as it pointed it's staff this way and that to match Eric's movements. If he could kill that one then taking care of these freaks would be a lot more simple. He didn't dare bring out his bow or crossbow however, for taking time to rummage through his bag would mean a blade to his back or wack to his skull for sure.  
  
It was a good thing he was already used to fighting outnumbered. These mutants were weak compared to the cannibals he had been facing. He moved further back, shining his light into the faces of the goblins as he moved. The creatures he aimed at rose hands to block the bright light. He then stopped his frantic motion, standing completely still as he glared at the goblins.  
  
As they began closing in, the one in the back shouting orders in some foul unintelligible tongue, one seemed to get overly excited and leaped for him with a blunt stick. Eric easily sidestepped the clumsy blow and swung his axe right into the things back. The blade bit deep, splitting the spine and killing the goblin instantly. Before he could remove the axe, another goblin, this one armed with what looked like a short sword lunged for him.  
  
He lifted his foot, and kicked the little freak in the face, sending it sprawling backward with a crunch of cartilage. It rolled on the ground while clutching its shattered nose, screaming in agony. Eric ripped out his axe from his fallen foe and bared his teeth. Several surrounding goblins backed away, with the leader snarling angrily at his cowardly crew. That hesitation is what Eric wanted, and now there was a semi-clear path to the leader. He sprinted for the masked mutant, delivering a swift chop of his axe to a goblin he passed.  
  
The strike cleaved it's arm right off, and it howled in pain, rolling on the ground in agony like the other Eric had kicked. Several goblins lunged for him with clubs and blade, but Eric was already out of reach of their short arms when he reached their leader. The goblin raised it's staff to block the overhand swing that would have split it's mask and the skull beneath it in half had it been half a second slower. The axe cleaved through the wood like paper, and the blade bit into the goblins mask, splitting it down the middle but leaving the flesh beneath it unmarked.  
  
The two sides of the mask fell away to reveal a wrinkled white-bearded face, angry yellow goat eyes glaring at him with hate. Eric swung horizontally, hoping to decapitate the mutant but it jumped back out of reach. It quickly pointed to somewhere behind Eric and began bellowing what he assumed were orders to it's lackeys. He would deal with them after killing this annoying freak. Eric swung, but again the goblin ducked away, this time hitting the cave wall with it's back. Having nowhere else to go Eric ran to deliver the finishing blow.  
  
Oddly it still pointed behind Eric, but not bellowing orders. It was as if it wanted him to look behind him. Did it really think that would work on him? That was ridiculous. He swung down with a mighty overhand chop, cleaving it's skull in half and misting the air with blood and gore. That was when he finally noticed the screaming.  
  
Eric turned his head at the noise to see the goblins clubbing the women over the head or stabbing them repeatedly, pausing with every strike to look up at him. When they saw the corpse of their leader, slumped against the wall of the cave with its head split like lumber, they paused their murdering. Had that been what the leader had been hoping for? That Eric would turn back and charge those goblins instead?  
  
Would that have worked had Eric noticed in time instead of rushing the leader?  
  
He was not sure, but right then Eric snarled, and charged the rest of them with his axe ready to swing. He made short work of them now that their leader was burning in hell. Compared to the savages of the peninsula, these goblins were nothing. Those cannibals could be as hardy as the trees Eric cut down. Goblins on the other hand only took a single decent swing to put down. Indeed that was all he had to do, now that they were unorganized.  
  
He slashed and kicked as he downed the rest of the goblins, finishing them off with hard stomps of his shoe if they still moved. Everything in this chamber was dead now… that included the women. The wounds they sustained in the leader's gambit were too severe. He swept his flashlight over the whole chamber, seeing blood mix with other foul-smelling fluids beneath the scattered and mangled bodies. Eric frowned as he realized something.  
  
The woman he spoke to before this fight…  
  
She spoke back to him. She hadn't screamed at him, snarled, or make any other bestial cries to intimidate him. She had spoke. Oh god, she had spoken to him…  
  
And he killed her. The only person to speak to him in months and he…  
  
Eric put his hands on his knees as he bent over, trying not to hurl. Were the other women sane as well? Before they had been killed off? Eric could have saved them! He could have-  
  
He ground his teeth together.  
  
Those little green bastards! He'd stomp them all to death, he'd rip out their eyes and fingernails, he'd-  
  
Eric stood, taking a deep breath. He needed to get out of this place. If he could get to the surface he could decide what to do. He looked to the body of the woman he had killed. She had wanted him to bring the axe down, but Eric still killed her before he knew that. The swelling horror of her abdomen had made him act by the instincts that had kept him alive on the peninsula. It had overridden all thoughts aside from 'kill the monster before it kills you'. Eric still felt guilt gnawing at his core. Maybe he had gone insane after all? If he had, would he even notice?  
  
With that thought in mind, he began dismembering the corpse of the leader, bleeding out the limbs and stuffing them into his backpack. When he finally cut off the bearded ugly head of the thing, he took out some cordage, and cut holes in its ears with his new knife. After that, he took some cordage and looped it through the bloody ear holes. Then, he fed the rope through his belt loops and knotted it. The dismembered head bounced on his hip as he trekked up the next inclining path, small spurts of blood occasionally leaking down his jeans.  
  
No time to let the head dry, unfortunately. He'd have to save that for when he got back to base… if he could even get back to base. Eric might not even be on the peninsula anymore, these caves were unfamiliar to him, and he _knew_ the caves back there like the back of his hand. If the device really had teleported him somewhere, Eric could be anywhere in the world.  
  
But where in the world was he? He shook his head. He was fumbling in the dark not only literally but metaphorically, best to keep his mind on target. He kept on the incline until it flattened out into another chamber, this one padded down with what looked like hay across the whole floor. Busted open barrels and chests sat against one end of the wall, next to what looked like a tall backed throne made of sticks. This must be where the goblins all slept… the woman's scream down below likely echoed all the way up here.  
  
So had that been all of them? Maybe. He moved over the hay to the containers and stick throne. Much to Eric's disappointment, there was only rotting food within, no more tools for him to take. Where had the goblins gotten these? He shook his head and looked to the stick throne. He gave the seat a once over with a critical eye, and internally scoffed. He could build a much better chair out of sticks than that. He chopped it down in a single strike, and much to his surprise, saw a wooden panel right behind it, wedged into the wall. Eric wondered what treasures lay behind it. More batteries hopefully. He had seen such barricades in the peninsula caves that held such treasure.  
  
He hacked it apart, shining his torch through the opening to see a curious sight.  
  
Goblin children. He moved in to kill them before they killed him, but they merely cowered against the back wall, shaking and crying. That gave him pause. Why weren't the freaks trying to kill him off right then? Didn't they see that he was human? He shone his light around the small chamber, counting at least twenty of the little buggers in all, and sniveling in fear. Down below, he had killed the goblin newborns without a second thought, why were these any different? They were going to grow into full goblins one day. Eric paused, staring at the creatures as he pondered their fate. Had they been human children he would not have hesitated to let them live, but these were mutants… and if his guess was right, then they multiplied by capturing women and bursting their guts with litters of new goblins. Would he really leave these things to grow up to do that to another sane woman?  
  
Eric steeled himself, and did what needed to be done, ignoring the cries of the goblin children.  
  
He was now covered head to toe in another fresh layer of blood, he'd need to wash that all off later. There seemed to be another incline up out of the cave, and another descending, but Eric ignored the latter, taking the former as he wanted to leave this place. Much to his delight, he saw the mouth of the cave not far ahead. An odd pink and green light shone through the opening, but Eric didn't think too much of it, elated to finally find a way out of here after all that time.  
  
When he finally reached the mouth, he saw many thick tree trunks and fresh green grass underneath the moonlight. Still not thinking about _why_ the moonlight was green and pink, he exited, taking the fresh scent of the forest. It was really bright out tonight, so he turned his torch off, confident that he would be able to discern any moving shapes between the trees.  
  
He craned his head upward to see just how full the moon was and began screaming when he saw that there was not only one moon, but two.  
  
A large green one and a smaller pink one.  
  
It had finally happened. Eric had been wondering if he'd be able to tell if he had finally lost his marbles but this was so in his face. He was utterly and completely insane. Breathing quickening, he gripped his axe as he scanned the treeline. Were those shapes moving through the wood? Who was watching him? He screamed at the unknown watcher and dashed through the forest, intent on brutalizing whoever it was who dared spy on him.


End file.
